Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Awesome crafting in wildstar

The world of Nexus is crammed full of useful stuff. It might be stuff that you loot from the stomach of a panthera, or stuff that you buy from an entrepreneurial Protostar Corporation employee. And now, thanks to WildStar’s tradeskills, it can be stuff you create yourself.

As part of our early levels peek at WildStar, I took a quick look at Carbine’s introduction to crafting. It’s an interesting and diverse approach, with plenty of customization already apparent. Even at this early stage, WildStar’s crafting systems seem to be packed with depth, with tech trees and crafting talents tempting me to dig deeper.

On the face of it, WildStar’s crafting looks similar to other MMOs. There’s gathering tradeskills that include Mining and Survivalist, equipment tradeskills like Armorer and Weaponsmith, and hobbies such as Farming and Cooking. WildStar’s introduction to tradeskills does a good job of explaining which ones work well together, although it’s easy to chop and change without penalty if you’re craving a change.

It doesn’t take long though for Carbine’s tweaks to become apparent. Take mining for example: you might be happily digging away at an ore node, only for it to sprout legs and scamper off. Or maybe even erupt from the ground as a giant ore wyrm, all set on devouring your diminutive Chua. It’s partly a move to keep gathering interesting, but it also works as an anti-farming measure by giving those bots something unpredictable to deal with.

Gathering in the open world is just one option, as it’s possible for dedicated tradeskill fans to devote part of their housing plot to the cause. It’s possible to drop down a garden and pick up some extra ingredients for cooking, or dig out a mine for additional ores. And, if you’re really into housing, the Architect tradeskill will let you create all manner of kits ready to drop down on your home. Say the communal crafting workbench is getting a little busy, why not build your own and chill?

If you’d rather recycle your loot than send it off to a vendor, WildStar also provides a way for everyone to salvage their gear into component items. It’ll usually only provide base materials, but it provides a handy alternative to going out and gathering or visiting the commodities exchange. Myself, I’d rather go for the money unless it becomes desperate.

It’s at this point that other MMOs normally end. But not so with WildStar, as the game uses three interlocking systems to provide a diverse range of crafting options. We first heard about Circuit Board Crafting (CBC) back in April, but the latest iteration in the Winter Beta is even more interesting.

When compare wilstar's crafting syssterm with other recenet MMOs, it is much deeper and awesome. It is no wonder that there so many players are attracted by the wildstar